Put on a Happy Face!

A large, framed photo of my friend's husband is perched on his desk. It caught my attention because his smiling face was super imposed on the body of his favorite New York quarterback. The room is bursting with sports memorabilia; signed footballs under glass, signed baseballs, signed photographs and jerseys. You could have charged admission to walk through his office because the collection rivals any museum! She explained to me that sports is like a fantasy to him, and he paid to have a professional-looking photo of himself in uniform; the culmination of his obsession. I thought to myself, "that's kind of strange, I wouldn't put my face on the Dalai Lama or Amelia Earhart." Then I paused to expand on this thought. Many people borrow fashion, identity, catch phrases, lifestyle, etc from other people they admire. I remember dressing up like Madonna when I was (much) younger and pretending to talk like Robin Leach from lifestyles of the rich and famous. I was temporarily trying on other people for the thrill of looking and sounding interesting or cool. When I dressed like myself (the boring clothes Mom bought me) I really didn't attract much attention on first encounters. Ah, but when I dressed like Madonna, or sprayed my hair blue (punk rock era, for the younger crowd) I evoked reactions from people. Good or bad, I got a rise out of people. A child's imagination sparks this concept when they put on Mom's high heels and strut around the house pointing their finger and saying things like "clean up your room. you might put an eye out." They're mimicking life - pretending to be some one they look up to. This type of role-playing helps to us to define who we really are through imagination, dreaming, discovery, and elimination of undesirable traits. It doesn't excuse any bad behavior, it gives you an opportunity to try it out - after all, _____ ____ is doing it. We really do learn so much from each other, borrowing strategies and ideas; expanding on the best of them.